Lots to see and do at Morton! Please stop in and see our new reading room! Our Seed Library/Seed Swap Kickoff was such a success that we have leftover seeds. If you need to start thinking spring, we have seeds for you – they are here for the taking! We now have a mortonrhinecliff instagram account, follow us to see some of the fun that takes place here at the library and in the community room.

We have three concerts and the talent show if you are looking for music, a book club meeting, a sustainability program to encourage you to advocate for good food for all, a declutterers club to create space in your home, and then the visual art opening portion of the talent show to find fantastic local art to add to your collection!

We are also looking to gather thoughts on our newest venture – a sewing area downstairs. Please contact us if you would be interested in participating as a teacher or as a student! We hope to start this by summer!

Don’t forget that February 28th is Library Advocacy Day, if you haven’t had a chance to contact your representatives here is a customizable letter that can be sent: http://bit.ly/1LwV3Ex.

If you’re a science geek, like me, you are always looking at the natural and human-made worlds with curiosity and interest in how our existence is inter-related—that is, how changes in one of our worlds impacts the other.
For all our attempts to surround ourselves with technology and nonliving materials we are, in the end, all animals within the environment.
Philosophy aside, many scientists are looking for citizen volunteers to help provide them with carefully and consistently collected data to broaden our observational horizons and further understanding. Here are a few local programs in the Hudson Valley that are looking for help:
Riverkeeper needs help monitoringHudson Rivertributaries,.
Mohonk Preserve is studying birdspecies, climatetracking,streamwatching, andPhenology—-i.e.
studying the seasonal progression of life-phases in flora and fauna in specific areas and fine detail. Scenic Hudson has mapped out specific habitats for intense seasonal observation. This is part of a New York State, and larger national, phenology project, and has a specific mobile APP for data reporting.
Some programs are very ‘hands-on’ –like invasive species pulls coordinated by PRISM of the Lower Hudson—
(Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management)
THIS WEEK (Feb. 16-19) is the International Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)!!! Do you like watching the
bird feeder out the living room window? Why not keep track of your visitors and contribute to a citizen science
project tracking winter bird populations and distribution?! Thousands around the globe participate in this crowdsourced
datagathering every year! Why not you? … and when that’s done, you can continue reporting your bird sightings using eBird!

The library has expanded services with a new digital collection website experience just for kids. The main MHLS Digital Download Collection now has a separate site to provide a safe and easy browsing experience for kids.

Libraries recognize the need to provide a safe environment for kids to browse library materials. Just as the children’s section of the physical library has its own place, the same experience is now available in the digital collection for kids eBooks and audiobooks. Browsing can be done by subject, reading level or interest level. Check out the Kid’s eReading Room.